Impact of Zeolites on the Petroleum and Petrochemical Industry

The general features of zeolites that led to their widespread use in oil refining and petrochemistry are highlighted as well as the details of their impact on selected processes. The analysis of the catalyst market and the position of zeolites therein is a good indication of their strategic importance. Zeolites have brought many disruptive changes to these fields (e.g. FCC). They impacted also these industries in an equally important way, although more subtle, by incremental improvement of processes. The new and vast challenges facing oil refining and petrochemistry as well as the managed transition to sustainable environmental benign transport fuel industries and chemical industries will require creative science and technologies. Zeolites offer the basis of many of these technological solutions provided efficient and balanced cooperations between industry and academia are further developed.